Amber

Amber has truly changed since she entered AWOL back in 2006. As an extremely quiet teen, Amber was not sure what she wanted to do at AWOL, but she did know that she loved to write. One chilly fall night at a last-minute second-chance audition, that was supposed to be for dancers only, Amber awkwardly made an attempt at the dance routine anyway. AWOL leader, Tony Jordan noticed that she seemed nervous and pulled her aside to give her words of encouragement. When Mr. Jordan inquired about what she liked to do, Amber’s mother Wendy said she was a poet. With that being said, Amber was whisked into the acting and poetry portion of the show and found two new friends that were also poets. Since then, Amber has participated with AWOL in not one but two International Youth Poetry Slams traveling thousands of miles to California and Washington, DC in the summer of 2008 to attend Brave New Voices, a show that debuted on HBO and was produced by Russell Simmons. Amber has become not just a phenomenal poet, she is also the resident “den mother” to all younger youth in the program. Amber comes to AWOL programs 3-4 nights per week all while maintaining good grades in school. Now in her senior year, she is even taking a class at Savannah State University. Wow! AWOL youth are amazing!